Or … How to talk like a Troll
So, you’re intrigued by the proposed languages in Shadows of Nightside (or in Freewaydog’s case, a little scared 
) and want more information.
Ok
I can do that (or at least attempt to)
so read on…
Starting at Creation
Like most things, it all starts at the beginning.
All new characters will start with fluency in two languages … their racial language and the common trade language.
During the character creation phase, you’ll have to make some choices on stats and traits and a bunch of other things.
All these factors, when combined, will form the basis of your character. (but that’s a topic for another day )
One of the things these factors will govern is how many potential languages the character can know and how quickly s/he can learn them.
Some witty title here
“That’s all well and good, but how do we learn new languages?”
That’s a good question … I’m glad you asked.
There will be 2 main ways to learn new languages … through quests (and other system events) and from others.
Quests for Knowledge
There will be some quests that will reward the character with a new language (and/or increase fluency in a known language) for completing the quest.
Hmmm .. not much else to say about this .. do the quest, get the language.
Listening to Learn
Like many things in SoN, practice makes perfect .. in other words, you get better at something by using it. The same goes for languages. You’ll be able to learn new languages and increase you fluency by listening to others speak it. ((this is where Llarlen’s brilliant work on the SoN translator comes in.))
It’ll be as simple finding someone that knows the language you want and getting them to talk to you … but there will be some restrictions. For one, you can’t work on your language skills while in combat or casting spells, neither of those activities allows for the concentration level needed for languages. Another restriction is that all parties involved (the ‘teacher’ and the ‘students’) need to agree on the transfer of knowledge.
Also the teacher needs to have a skill higher than the student and can’t increase the student’s skill beyond her own (can’t teach what you don’t know).
hru, nuu mo hmu moohm?
Which translates from … “so, what are your thoughts?”
You really didn’t think I’d do another post on languages without playing around with the SoN translator, now did you?
Go on .. you know you wanna play with it
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Ah, now how a language is learned makes more sense. Here I was thinking one could simply talk to an NPC who speaks the language to learn it over time. This is a bit more interesting, and makes more sense, though, I’m now curious as to what “teaching” and “learning” involves. That is, what does the teacher do to teach, and the student, to learn. Clearly it won’t be just sitting there gaining the occasional skill up, that would be incredibly boring.
I do like how interaction is encouraged by this though. It sounds like it’s easier to learn by talking to a player who’s already gained proficiency in the language, thus there’s reason to seek out a player as a teacher, rather than do the lone wolf thing.
Most of the specifics are still up in the air and the standard disclaimer (what we say now may be different than what gets implemented) applies …
Given that, the planned mechanism for player to player teaching/learning is fairly straight forward.
The student and teacher first must enter into an agreement (similar to a duel challenge – one player initiates the agreement and the other has to accept). Once the terms of the agreement are accepted by both parties, it’s just a matter of using the skill .. in this case, speaking in the language.
The rate at which the student learns will be based on the teacher’s fluency in the language, the gap between the teacher’s skill and the student’s, and some derived values based on the student’s stats, skills and abilities. (and I’m sure we’l think of other things as we work more on it.
)
As mentioned in the post, there will be restrictions on where and when this learning can take place. And while some may find this boring, I see it more as a way to interact and fill down time while doing other things like traveling or farming or crafting. Or just a way to mindlessly occupy your time in Nightside
Will this game really happen? It seems like things are such where it will NOT happen.
@ freewaydog …
What “things” are you referring to?
Granted, we haven’t posted any new info in about two weeks, but I don’t see that as an indication of SoN not happening.
What I mean, is by “things”, it just seems that you are all so busy that maybe you might not be able to do it? I do not want to bug you to.